Structural fires are trending toward burning hotter and faster due to the nature of materials used for interior finishes and furnishings. In addition, larger ‘box’ type stores and warehouses with vast interior spaces are becoming the norm across the country. Outdoor wildfires are particularly dangerous because wind and ground conditions can cause sudden changes in the bounds of the fire and smoke obscures visual cues leading to disorientation. Many times, there is quite a bit of confusion on a fireground (general area of a fire). Adverse weather conditions, darkness, obscuring smoke, and panicking occupants and bystanders add to this overall confusion. In the midst of this confusion, a firefighter tries to maintain his/her focus, assess the situation, and attempt to bring it under control.
During a firefight, responders entering a hazardous area may become disoriented. A common means of orientation is to follow the “hose line”, but particularly in dark and/or smoky buildings responders can easily lose track of the hose line and become disoriented, not knowing which direction to go for an exit path (which is usually the way the responder entered the fireground.) Since most self contained breathing apparatus provides approximately 30 minutes of breathing air, a lost responder has little time to react and find a way out. If the responder becomes confused, the result can be fatal for that individual and potentially fatal for any crew attempting a rescue. In fact, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), each year tens of thousands of firefighters are injured while performing their duties. Firefighter disorientation is one of fire fighting's most serious hazards and is the leading cause of injuries and fatalities of firefighters.
A survey of firefighters conducted for the inventor indicated that a very high percentage of those surveyed believe that a new device and/or method is necessary to assist firefighters in finding their way out of danger as quickly as possible. To date this great need has been unmet. For example, thermal imaging devices can help to find a lower temperature area which might be a way through the fireground (fire building), but this only reads surface temperatures in line of sight, and is too bulky and expensive for use by individual firefighters. For example, GPS devices do not work well indoors, if at all. For example, a tracker system (e.g., Pak-Tracker™, by Scott Health & Safety; Monroe, N.C.) allows rescuers with a special receiver to locate lost responders if they have activated their corresponding transmitter, but the system is expensive and doesn't help an individual to exit a dangerous area on his/her own. For example, another tracker system (e.g., Tracker FRT™, by Exit Technologies; Boulder, Colo.) includes “egress transmitters” that can be tracked using a unit carried by each responder; but this requires an added procedure of laying down the egress transmitters like cookie crumbs while entering the fireground. Potential problems include disabling of the egress transmitters by harsh conditions; and also the fact that this doesn't provide for radioing a new route to a trapped responder when the original marked route is no longer usable. For example, a regular north-pointing compass does not associate fireground landmarks with compass directions.
A standardized US procedure for dealing with emergency incidents is the “Incident Command System (ICS)” that is a part of the “National Incident Management System (NIMS)” of guidelines, policies and principles. This system includes standardized landmark designations that are commonly recognized by all responders and their controller (Incident Manager, IC) at the fireground (or “incident site”). Simply stated, in the case of a building fire, guidelines define A, B, C, and D sides of a building with reference to the nearest street, and go around the building clockwise from the “A” side which is the side facing the nearest street. In this way, even though a building will likely have unique and varied names for portions of the building, every firefighter in that building will have just four standardized names for four standard portions of the building: the four sides of the building. This matters to the firefighter because in all communications (generally by radio) they refer to directions in the building with reference to the standardized named portions (landmarks) of the building, each of which has the universally understood simple ABCD labels; or else the firefighters may relate a direction to the location of the command post (CP) which can be anywhere but is communicated as a location relative to the ABCD designations. Even with this clearly understood labeling of fireground landmarks, however, a firefighter within a building who has become disoriented will have lost track of the landmarks and likely will not be able to see the exterior walls in order to become re-oriented.
Thus there is a great need for a new orientation device and/or method that can be implemented by any responder at an incident site, particularly a fireground, and most particularly when the responder is within a building. If substantially all of the responders are to use such a new device, it must be small enough and moderately priced such that every responder can carry and use his/her own device.